Nathan “Nat” Daniel entered the world of guitars by
building amplifiers. While still in school, Daniel began building amplifiers for
Epiphone. He soon opened a one-man amp factory in Manhattan and continued
supplying all the Electar amplfiers through the late 1940s. Shortly after World
War II ended, he moved his business to New Jersey and renamed it the Danelectro
Corporation – short for Daniel Electric. He was soon building amps for Sears and
Montgomery Ward stores on top of his products for Epiphone, and Danelectro began
to take off.

Danelectro built its first guitars in 1954. They were
cheap but honest, never trying to mimic the high-end guitars of the day. The
classic Danelectro guitar body consisted of a hollow wooden frame onto which a
top and back of Masonite (veneered plywood) were attached, resulting in a thin
and light hollowbody guitar. However, for the first year or so of production,
Danelectro guitars were true solidbodies. This guitar has a poplar body and a
neck containing a solid aluminum rod that protrudes down the top of the body.
The neck is secured by two screws going through the body and into the aluminum
rod. This rod therefore acts as both a truss rod and the basis of the neck
joint. The wooden sides of the neck are secured by several rods running through
the entire neck underneath the frets.

Other aspects of this guitar are more familiar to
Danelectro fans. The aluminum nut and bridge with a moveable rosewood saddle,
the peanut-shaped body, and the tone switch for the single pickup would be
staples of Danelectro design for many years. However, the one-piece pickguard
and pickup cover are unique to the first year of production; by the end of 1955,
the pickup would be encased in a lipstick tube – literally, not just a
descriptive term – and the pickguard would be made of clear plastic. This early
pickup is identical later ones except for the cover: the coil is wound directly
onto the magnet, with no bobbin.

This early guitar was sold under the Danelectro name and
through Sears under the Silvertone name. The latter came in two forms, the
single-pickup model 1375 and the rarer dual-pickup model 1377. The Danelectro
version had a unique headstock shape that flared out toward the base, while the
Silvertone version already had the “Coke bottle” shape that Dano-built
Silvertones would retain until 1958. They already featured the aluminum nut that
would remain a Danelectro trademark throughout the company’s history. The tuners
are Waverlys – Danelectro wouldn’t start making their own tuners for another
couple of years – and the back of the headstock has an unusual volute that would
disappear with the single-rod reinforcement system.

If they weren’t the most traditional design, these early
Danelectro guitars were durable, they played well and sounded very good. A
guitarist got a surprisingly solid guitar for
$39.95 (or $40.50 with case).
Despite not having and adjustable truss rod, most vintage Danelectro necks have
survived with minimal warping due to the stiff aluminum reinforcement; this one
is perfectly straight. Aside from a replacement end pin and jack plate, the guitar is entirely original. The neck is a true baseball bat,
much larger than even the chunky Dano necks from later in the ‘50s. The sound of
that low-output pickup is still recognizable: clear, with a wide frequency range
and strong bass.